To do group work or not to do group work, that is the question..
Objective: “what did I see or hear”
Sean facilitated a forum titled “Group Work”. I found myself particularly drawn to this topic as I include group work in the college classes that I teach and include group activities on the field trips that I facilitate at Grouse Mountain for children from grades K-12.
Elizabeth Barkley in her Student Engagement Techniques handbook describes group work as a strategy for promoting active learning. Everyone that participated in Sean’s forum seemed to have first-hand experience with group work, whether it was strong support for group work or sharing common challenges of group work.
Sean shared some of the advantages of group work which include that it promotes community, collaboration, teamwork and mentoring among learners. Group members with more background knowledge, contextual knowledge or experience can share their stories and understanding with others in the group. Group work can take advantage of differing learner backgrounds, experience, academic skills and learning strategies. (Sean Brown’s forum summary, 2016)
Sean, in his summary report, indicated significant participation in the tread about disadvantages of group work, including some strong opinions offset with humour. Some may resist group work due to poor prior experiences with group work. Some students engage in off-task behaviours e.g. texting, Facebooking. Some group members just don’t get along. Karen insightfully shared that “I was a huge advocate for group work. I mean, heck, isn't it awesome to collaborate and brainstorm as a team? Then.....Susan Cain came along and deflated my balloon.”
Vivienne insightfully shared that “Learning individually has value, but co-operative learning implies a social context. It is not just what the individual gains from the process, it also provides a context for their thoughts, understandings and experiences.”
Reflective: “my gut reaction”.. my reaction to what I have been exposed to..
When I read through the postings about group forums one of my first reactions was that of course I want to encourage my first year college students to work in groups. It’s a good way to teach students about collaboration, working together, finding strengths and weaknesses in their teammates, allocating resources (both time and people), and learning to respect deadlines. These are all important tools to have in their toolbox when they enter the workforce. Although there are advantages to group work, as I read through the numerous, colorful postings I considered the spectrum of challenges that my colleagues have encountered and shared.
In my Tourism Business Structure class, my students do several group projects. I choose the makeup of each group and mix up groups from one assignment to the next. I have felt that most benefit from the group assignments. My restaurant assignment, for example, asks students to visit as a group a favorite service operator, it could be the school cafeteria, the sushi restaurant down the street or any other restaurant of their choosing. Subsequently they answer a number of questions relating to their experience including to identify their “moment of truth”. They don’t have to spend much money. It gets them out of the classroom environment viewing hospitality through a more critical lens. They share their restaurant visit experience with their classmates during a short summary presentation. By mixing up the composition of the groups, I get to see who the leaders are, and how they influence their groups.
Interpretive: “My reaction” and why did I have that reaction?
I realize that I have rather strong feelings in favour of group work. Much of this is due to the fact that during my many years in the corporate world, I was involved in working as part of a team, often rather large teams of say 20 or more people.
Among my experiences was project managing our organization’s annual strategic plan. This project normally lasted over 2 to 3 months and involved a core group of about half a dozen people but with participation/input of well over 20 people. This project required organization. One of my main tools was a workback schedule that was shared with all people involved in the project and that I stuck to like glue. As the project manager, I was responsible for the content and therefore reviewed and edited all the material that I compiled. Many concepts found in collaborate work in the workplace can be learnt effectively while working in groups in college.
Doug pointed to the issues of evaluating group work and the ethics of assigning the same mark to everyone in the group. I asserted that I provide a marking rubric to the students so that my expectations are clear. I further evidenced my position that peer evaluation is part of doing group work.... When you work as part of a group in the corporate world the finished product is a collaborative work. Everyone works together towards a common goal. If the project is a success it's everyone's success. That’s one of the reasons that I ask students to do a peer assessment, so that I can get feedback if team members don't pull their weight.
Professor Barkley (2010, p.124) indicates that group work best practices maximize the opportunity for student learning. In my (limited) experience, I feel that in my industry and in the courses that I have taught, group work, and specifically group projects are an effective engagement technique.
In addition, from a novice instructor’s point of view, the logistics of having students do group projects versus individual projects – especially for the final projects – are just an exercise in better time management! I prefer to not be grading 30 final reports and sitting through 30 final presentations (@ 10 minutes each, you’d have to budget over 300 minutes)! It seems much more palatable to grade 6 or 7 reports, and watch 6 or 7 group final presentations). In my experience, students also learn from listening to each other’s group presentations as well, especially if they have to assess their peers or pose questions.
Decisional: “what I am going to do as a result of this piece of information”
After watching Susan Cain’s talk on the Power of Introverts, I am seriously considering converting at least one of the group projects into an individual project. I think it would allow for the introverts in my class to have an opportunity to work effectively in a preferred medium.
Like so many topics that we have covered in this class, I’ve never thought of the rationale for using one type of student engagement technique over another. Group work to me was just something that is part of college-level courses. I’ve never really thought of whether to do group work or not, and after hearing many opinions, advantages and disadvantages, I would continue to include group work in my courses but will definitely balance it out with individual work, and will have a good look at my grading rubric to make sure it’s as fair as possible.
Sean facilitated a forum titled “Group Work”. I found myself particularly drawn to this topic as I include group work in the college classes that I teach and include group activities on the field trips that I facilitate at Grouse Mountain for children from grades K-12.
Elizabeth Barkley in her Student Engagement Techniques handbook describes group work as a strategy for promoting active learning. Everyone that participated in Sean’s forum seemed to have first-hand experience with group work, whether it was strong support for group work or sharing common challenges of group work.
Sean shared some of the advantages of group work which include that it promotes community, collaboration, teamwork and mentoring among learners. Group members with more background knowledge, contextual knowledge or experience can share their stories and understanding with others in the group. Group work can take advantage of differing learner backgrounds, experience, academic skills and learning strategies. (Sean Brown’s forum summary, 2016)
Sean, in his summary report, indicated significant participation in the tread about disadvantages of group work, including some strong opinions offset with humour. Some may resist group work due to poor prior experiences with group work. Some students engage in off-task behaviours e.g. texting, Facebooking. Some group members just don’t get along. Karen insightfully shared that “I was a huge advocate for group work. I mean, heck, isn't it awesome to collaborate and brainstorm as a team? Then.....Susan Cain came along and deflated my balloon.”
Vivienne insightfully shared that “Learning individually has value, but co-operative learning implies a social context. It is not just what the individual gains from the process, it also provides a context for their thoughts, understandings and experiences.”
Reflective: “my gut reaction”.. my reaction to what I have been exposed to..
When I read through the postings about group forums one of my first reactions was that of course I want to encourage my first year college students to work in groups. It’s a good way to teach students about collaboration, working together, finding strengths and weaknesses in their teammates, allocating resources (both time and people), and learning to respect deadlines. These are all important tools to have in their toolbox when they enter the workforce. Although there are advantages to group work, as I read through the numerous, colorful postings I considered the spectrum of challenges that my colleagues have encountered and shared.
In my Tourism Business Structure class, my students do several group projects. I choose the makeup of each group and mix up groups from one assignment to the next. I have felt that most benefit from the group assignments. My restaurant assignment, for example, asks students to visit as a group a favorite service operator, it could be the school cafeteria, the sushi restaurant down the street or any other restaurant of their choosing. Subsequently they answer a number of questions relating to their experience including to identify their “moment of truth”. They don’t have to spend much money. It gets them out of the classroom environment viewing hospitality through a more critical lens. They share their restaurant visit experience with their classmates during a short summary presentation. By mixing up the composition of the groups, I get to see who the leaders are, and how they influence their groups.
Interpretive: “My reaction” and why did I have that reaction?
I realize that I have rather strong feelings in favour of group work. Much of this is due to the fact that during my many years in the corporate world, I was involved in working as part of a team, often rather large teams of say 20 or more people.
Among my experiences was project managing our organization’s annual strategic plan. This project normally lasted over 2 to 3 months and involved a core group of about half a dozen people but with participation/input of well over 20 people. This project required organization. One of my main tools was a workback schedule that was shared with all people involved in the project and that I stuck to like glue. As the project manager, I was responsible for the content and therefore reviewed and edited all the material that I compiled. Many concepts found in collaborate work in the workplace can be learnt effectively while working in groups in college.
Doug pointed to the issues of evaluating group work and the ethics of assigning the same mark to everyone in the group. I asserted that I provide a marking rubric to the students so that my expectations are clear. I further evidenced my position that peer evaluation is part of doing group work.... When you work as part of a group in the corporate world the finished product is a collaborative work. Everyone works together towards a common goal. If the project is a success it's everyone's success. That’s one of the reasons that I ask students to do a peer assessment, so that I can get feedback if team members don't pull their weight.
Professor Barkley (2010, p.124) indicates that group work best practices maximize the opportunity for student learning. In my (limited) experience, I feel that in my industry and in the courses that I have taught, group work, and specifically group projects are an effective engagement technique.
In addition, from a novice instructor’s point of view, the logistics of having students do group projects versus individual projects – especially for the final projects – are just an exercise in better time management! I prefer to not be grading 30 final reports and sitting through 30 final presentations (@ 10 minutes each, you’d have to budget over 300 minutes)! It seems much more palatable to grade 6 or 7 reports, and watch 6 or 7 group final presentations). In my experience, students also learn from listening to each other’s group presentations as well, especially if they have to assess their peers or pose questions.
Decisional: “what I am going to do as a result of this piece of information”
After watching Susan Cain’s talk on the Power of Introverts, I am seriously considering converting at least one of the group projects into an individual project. I think it would allow for the introverts in my class to have an opportunity to work effectively in a preferred medium.
Like so many topics that we have covered in this class, I’ve never thought of the rationale for using one type of student engagement technique over another. Group work to me was just something that is part of college-level courses. I’ve never really thought of whether to do group work or not, and after hearing many opinions, advantages and disadvantages, I would continue to include group work in my courses but will definitely balance it out with individual work, and will have a good look at my grading rubric to make sure it’s as fair as possible.